Monthly Archives: June 2017

//This story has been submitted by Hardik Kasat, aged 12, from Indore. He had written this tale as a part of “Introduction to Creative Writing” workshop conducted by me in June. The kids were just given a story title and they had to weave a story around it.//

A smart, intelligent and athletic boy in blue named Babloo was playing chess with Julie, his elder sister who was just a year older to him. He was about to win when his sister dismissed the game.

“I am not going to play with you”, Julie declared.

Few days later

Now Julie had begun to feel even more jealous of Babloo. From teachers to parents, everyone always praised Babloo and this made Julie feel very bad. She thought that if Babloo will not be there, then everyone would praise her instead. So she hatched a plan. Her plan was to take Babloo to the woods and pretend that she wanted to play with him.

//This story has been submitted by Avni Malhotra, aged 9, from Hyderabad. She had written this tale as a part of “Introduction to Creative Writing” workshop conducted by me in June. The kids were just given a story title and they had to weave a story around it.//

One day, I went to a jungle with my brother Babloo. Once we reached, I sat down to light the campfire, while Babloo went to collect more sticks. As he walked through the jungle, he could smell something strange and he started following it. When I looked around, Babloo had vanished from my sight and I waited for him for a long time but he did not return. I got worried and went about searching for him in the jungle.

The good thing about reading a novel from a new author is that you enter its world without any preconceived notions or conjecture. With “A Season for Dying: A Vikram Rana Mystery”, my mind was a blank slate as I plunged into it and I was in for a pleasant surprise. Since childhood, I have always devoured thrillers with a detective as a protagonist. Be it the classic Indian Television series “Karamchand” or the iconic “Byomkesh Bakshi”, the associated memories are still clearly etched in my mind. I am glad to share that in Vikram Rana, Ms. Shenoy has created a detective character which has the potential to be in the same league as these glorious detectives we have cherished during our growing years. The “Vikram Rana Investigates” series is set in the city of Nizams (which probably made me connect to this book all the more being from Hyderabad myself) and “A Season for Dying” is the second installment in this series.

//This story has been submitted by Reya Jain, aged 7, from Hyderabad. This entry has won 2nd prize in the first contest conducted as a part of the “Children’s Corner” initiative. Children were given a prompt of few lines and they had to continue the story with their own interpretation.//

It was a bright Sunday morning, bustling with the boisterous banter between Sarah and her friends. The children were playing hopscotch by the lake which was close to Sarah’s home. Mrs. Rodrigues was watching them from the kitchen while preparing sandwiches for the children to feast on. Suddenly, there was a loud scream. Mrs.Rodrigues quickly ran to the garden. She saw that Sarah had fallen down in a muddy puddle and got hurt badly. Sarah’s mother picked her up and quickly ran to the hospital. Doctor did the check up and got an X-Ray done. He found that the bones of Sarah’s ankles had broken into number of pieces.

//This story has been submitted by Arnav Mahajan, aged 8, from Hyderabad.This is the winning entry in the first contest conducted as a part of the “Children’s Corner” initiative. Children were given a prompt of few lines and they had to continue the story with their own interpretation.//

It was a bright Sunday morning, bustling with the boisterous banter between Sarah and her friends. The children were playing hopscotch by the lake which was close to Sarah’s home. Mrs. Rodrigues was watching them from the kitchen while preparing sandwiches for the children to feast on. Suddenly, there was a loud scream. Children were screaming because they saw a U.F.O landing near the lake. After some time, they saw an alien coming out of the U.F.O. When the alien came out, the U.F.O flew in the sky. The alien stared at Sarah and her friends. They got scared and ran towards Sarah’s house.